“Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway added over 31 million Apple shares to its portfolio in the December quarter,” Chuck Jones writes for Forbes. “With a total of 165 million shares, worth $28 billion, Apple comprises 14.6% of Berkshire’s $191 billion of assets as of December 31. This made it the firm’s largest investment, barely passing Wells Fargo by $200 million.”
Jones writes, “The filing, released after the market closed on Wednesday, revealed that Apple is Berkshire’s largest holding is probably one of the reasons that Apple’s stock has risen almost $3, or 1.7%, on Thursday morning vs. the NASDAQ’s 0.2%.”
“By buying 31 million shares in the December 2017 quarter it now has 165 million, making it the firms’ largest holding in terms of market cap,” Jones writes. “Buffett is well known for holding onto his investments for a very long time and having a substantial ownership in those companies. It is fairly amazing that in the course of just under two years that Apple is now Berkshire’s largest investment.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, mom and pop investors will follow ol’ Warren even after they’ve been hoodwinked by the annual Nikkei / AAPL shorts FUDfest.
SEE ALSO:
Apple up in early trading on Buffett’s Berkshire investment – February 15, 2018
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway increases Apple holdings by 23.3% to 165.3 million shares – February 14, 2018
AND…. What a GALACTIC FUD FEST it will be. SAD.
Don’t worry the Nikkei will be back tomorrow with news of another 110% iPhone production cut to help out all the shorters out there
Okay that makes me feel better about having 40% of my retirement savings in Apple stock. Not much I can do about it since the stock has grown so much since I bought shares 10 years ago. I think other growth stocks like amazon and google are risky and the p/e is too high
Depends on how many shares you have
No sane person has 40% of his/her retirement invested in one stock. Stocks can blow up (Enron, Global Crossing, BigAss Banks, et al.) Nothing lasts forever and we may be reaching the end of Steve’s diary.
When I bought Apple stock 18 years ago, it comprised a small percentage of my holdings. After increasing in value over 4,000% the Apple stock now comprises the bulk of my holdings.
Will I sell off my AAPL shares now?
No way.
Am I sane? That’s debatable….
in a way. I’m aware of the edge I’m walking (about 75% of net worth) in AAPL. I’ve gone through 3 significant drops, but I never really questioned the fundamentals. I slowly port to other things, but meanwhile, I get a healthy divi and value has always continued upward.
Per your last point, I think TC is making Apple a company with a different foundation. The singular innovative product theme is morphing into a company with a much broader and more stable base. Of course, no company is fail-safe, but AAPL is like no other and surely nothing like the co’s you mentioned.
Diversification is overrated. My wife and I went from low income, cash poor thirtysomethings to a paid off house in 5 years and both retired by 43 all because we didn’t spread things out. Over 90% invested in AAPL.
Maybe that is overly aggressive for some but for us, with 2 small children and other interests outside of investing, we just didn’t have time to religiously follow a basketful of stocks or the tolerance to invest in risky, overvalued companies or markets. We could however read MDN everyday, listen to AAPL conference calls and dissect their earnings reports and understand AAPL fundamentals and probable product roadmaps and invest accordingly.
Don’t believe that diversification is guaranteed to be safer or more profitable . It’s only guaranteed to be safer and more profitable for brokers who make the lions share of their fortune off of commissions buying and selling as much as possible. For many it’s safer to invest in only what you can truly understand and know inside and out. Not so different from career paths; who makes more money, the jack-of-all-trades or the expert in a specific field? Most of the ultra-successful are only great at 1 or 2 things… focus pays.
I totally agree with you. Diversification is overrated and in a lot of ways, pocket trash. I think Warren Buffett said as much… Obviously he’s one that can investigate thoroughly and put then put a boatload in a very focused area.
Kudos to retirement at 43. Your were 10 years ahead of me.